Egypt has successfully locked in a staggering $16.7 billion worth of investment commitments from foreign partners over the next five years, marking a dramatic recovery in its upstream industry and renewed confidence from International Oil Companies, according to Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
Italy’s energy giant Eni will lead the charge with an $8 billion investment, while UK-based bp will inject $5 billion into Egypt’s petroleum sector. The remaining $3.7 billion will come from ARCIUS Energy, a joint venture between bp and ADNOC’s subsidiary XRG.
The minister highlighted that the petroleum sector has successfully shifted from a period of decline to a phase of stability, with natural gas production increasing gradually for the first time in four years. Crude oil output is projected to achieve self-sufficiency within five years.
To stimulate upstream activity, the petroleum ministry has implemented a series of aggressive measures, including paying nearly $1 billion of arrears to IOCs, introducing new investment incentives, and revising production-sharing agreements to include the R-Factor system.
These reforms have already encouraged foreign investors to expand their operations, leading to multiple discoveries across Egypt. The most recent include the North El-Basant 1 exploratory well, which contains initial reserves of 15 to 25 billion cubic feet, and the Northeast Ramadan Crystal (NER-1X) well, with output estimated at 8 million standard cubic feet per day in the Nile Delta region.
The ministry has also launched a Red Sea international bid round via Egypt Upstream Gateway, available until Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM. Plans are underway to drill 480 exploration wells over the next five years, alongside expanding seismic surveys covering 100,000 square kilometers onshore the Western Desert and 95,000 square kilometers offshore the Eastern Mediterranean using Ocean Bottom Node technology.
Beyond fossil fuels, Badawi highlighted the ministry’s plan to boost investment opportunities in green energy projects, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel, green ammonia, and bioethanol. Qatar recently committed $200 million to build a SAF production facility in the Ain Sokhna Integrated Zone, marking the first Qatari industrial investment in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The facility will convert cooking oils into 200,000 tons per year of hydrotreated vegetable oil, biopropane, and bionaphtha.
Egypt also issued its first SAF production license to the Egyptian Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company, a subsidiary of ECHEM, to build a facility in Alexandria. The plant will convert used cooking oil into 120,000 tons per year of jet fuel, cutting around 400,000 tons per year of CO₂ emissions.
The minister also pointed to the implementation of 117 renewable energy projects at petroleum work sites and measures to improve energy efficiency by 8%, contributing to a reduction of approximately 1.4 million tons of carbon emissions.
Source: egyptoil-gas.com